Archery arrow guides and holders are known in the art. One such device is disclosed in Warnicke, U.S. Pat. No. 4,282,850 as including a one piece elastomeric diaphragm permanently clamped in place on a bow. The diaphragm has a peripheral portion fixedly secured, apparently by some type of adhesive, to a flange of a central opening of the bow. The diaphragm includes a central opening for receiving a shaft of the arrow and three fins extending outwardly from the central opening to the diaphragm peripheral portion. Between the fins are relatively large, almost circular openings for receiving vanes or fins on the arrow shaft. After the arrow has been nocked and the bow has been drawn and as the arrow is released, interior portions of the diaphragm contacting the arrow shaft move forward as the arrow is projected forwardly.
In working on an archery arrow guide somewhat similar to the guide disclosed by Warnicke, I found sufficient stability is not provided by such an elastomeric structure to enable the desired guiding effect to be achieved. I found the elastomeric material had a tendency to rotate in a plane at right angles to movement of the arrow shaft as the arrow is projected forwardly. If a stiffer material not having such a tendency is employed, the portion of the diaphragm contacting and adjacent the arrow shaft is excessively stiff and does not move adequately with the forwardly projected arrow.
The Warnicke device is not adapted to be used with currently existing bows because the diaphragm is permanently attached to a specially manufactured bow. Because the Warnicke guide is not used with existing, conventional bows, the Warnicke approach is excessively expensive.
In addition, elastomeric diaphragms have a tendency to wear after prolonged use. Wearing occurs because of the tendency for the central opening to change size and shape after many uses. With the Warnicke device, a worn diaphragm should be removed and another diaphragm should be secured in situ on the bow, apparently by using an appropriate adhesive or the like. Removal of the diaphragm can be difficult and damage the bow.
Because the Warnicke guide has a diaphragm adhesively mounted on the bow, arrows having shafts with different diameters are not optimally used with this prior art guide. The constant diameter central opening does not optimally handle differing arrow shaft diameters. For arrow shaft diameters larger than the central opening diameter, relatively large frictional forces are imparted by tips of the vanes to the arrow shaft. While this may provide somewhat improved guiding of an arrow, the large frictional force would appear to substantially reduce the distance the arrow can travel.
An additional problem with the guide disclosed by Warnicke is that the plane of the diaphragm is fixed relative to the bow string. This has the disadvantage of preventing pressure adjustments on the arrow as the bow is being drawn and the arrow is being released.
A further disadvantage of the Warnicke structure is the relatively large size of the almost circular openings. Because of the large area of these openings relative to the arrow vane or fin cross section, no control is provided by the guide for the vanes.
It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved archery arrow guide having a unitary elastomeric diaphragm, arranged to have an improved guiding function relative to the prior art as a result of greater diaphragm stability.
Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved archery arrow guide including a unitary elastomeric diaphragm having a central opening with interior parts for engaging the arrow shaft, which diaphragm has a tendency to remain stabilized in planes at right angles to the direction of arrow movement.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved archery arrow guide including a holder mounted unitary elastomeric diaphragm adapted to be used with conventional existing bows.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved archery arrow guide including a holder mounted unitary elastomeric diaphragm arranged to be easily changed as the diaphragm wears or if arrows having differing shaft diameters are employed.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved arrow guide including a unitary elastomeric diaphragm arranged so the plane of the diaphragm can be moved relative to the bow string, to thereby control the pressure on the arrow as the bow is being drawn and as the arrow is being released.